Podcast: How We Found Oscar

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Oscar Alfredo Ramírez Castañeda holds an undated photo of Lt. Oscar Ovidio Ramírez Ramos in the kitchen of his home in Framingham, Mass., on May 13, 2012. (Matthew Healey for ProPublica)

In 1982, the small Guatemalan village of Dos Erres was invaded by a group of army commandos known as the Kaibiles. More than 250 men, women and children were slaughtered. One of the few survivors, a 3-year-old boy, was abducted by a Kaibil officer and later raised by the soldier's family.

In ProPublica's latest investigation, senior reporter Sebastian Rotella tells the story of how Oscar, an illegal immigrant working two jobs to support his family, became living proof of one of Guatemala's worst civil war atrocities. His editor, Tom Detzel, joins the podcast this week to explain how we found the story, why we took a different approach in telling it and more.

2 comments

Everytime I hear about a father, a mother, grandparents, siblings and other relatives reuniting with children disappeared in Guatemala during the war, I cry out of happines for them, but I also cry because after 30 years of searching for my two daughters Rosaura (10) and Glenda (9), and my sister Alma (18 months), disappeared in 1981, my search has produced no results. Everything I have done has lead me to nowhere. I have been told that they may be in Villahermosa, Tabasco, México, but I have been unable to locate them. Perhaps ProPublica would be willing to assist me with my search?

Regardless of whether or not you can help me, I thank you for all thework you did to find Oscar and for giving them both the gift of being reunited after so many years.